Thank you for those who have still been shopping at our store despite the closing of our surrounding neighbors. We appreciate your business SO SO SO much and really can’t express our gratitude for those of you who have chosen our locally owned shop over big box retailers and online.

Our goal moving forward is to listen more to how we can continue to serve you better and give you what you want. We will be releasing a series of surveys that will give you a chance to tell us directly what you are loving and what we can work on. Our first focus is on WORKSHOPS- since we know how much our customers love learning new things and our loyal, serial-workshop-takers are craving some new choices.

We are so excited to welcome new instructor: Kara McCutchen of Idaho Adventures Art who will teaching her wonderful watercolor beginner class- we took it, and it’s good stuff guys.

P+P has teamed up with Lit & co Candles for the yummiest smelling workshop ever!

Join us for a candle-making workshop over at Lit & Co.’s amazing workshop space! While your candles are setting, enjoy a mini version of the popular Paperie + Pen freestyle lettering class with a holiday twist. Nichole will be teaching typography basics and easy ways for beginners to make beautiful letters for mindfully. For the class project, we will be making one-of-a-kind holiday gift tags using a variety of fun mediums.
Perfect idea for a gift or date night!

Hopefully by now you have had a chance to check out our bright and fun new window display!? We had such a blast creating this and just LOVE the way it turned out!

:::DIY DEETS:::

Balloons- the shape was cut out of spherical honeycomb party decor (Meri Meri Party). The baskets were made from weaving strips antique gold cardstock into little boxes. They were attached to the honeycomb “balloon” with a chunky cream yarn and hung with a thin string to appear like they are floating.

Bouquet- we have done these flowers for the past few displays we have put together, they are easy-ish but have a pretty sturdy and realistic end result, so we just keep coming back! Hot glue, Carte Fini italian crepe paper (different than regular crepe paper), wire, and hot glue (mixed with HOURS of fun) similar tutorial links: here & here

Cake- the cake was a mix of crepe paper and cardstock, to create a mix of the hard and soft “papery” feel. Topper was designed by us and created by Woodland Manufacturing

Clouds- the clouds were made out of the little cardboard things they put cakes on! We were going to die-cut something out of cardboard, until I found these for like $15 for a box of 100! It was a done deal- a little hot glue and voila! To make them stand up on their own, we cut the circles in quarters and glued them to the back bottom of the clouds to make little stands. It worked perfectly!

We can’t even tell you how overjoyed we are to have Courtney Casper Letters come all the way down from Eastern Washington to teach lettering in our space! This is a new medium that we have never had the pleasure of hosting- and we are ready to get our hands inky as Courtney teaches us her ways!! Saturday, April 8th, 2017 at 10:00am @ Paperie + Pen

This class is for students of all skill level wanting to learn the art of aquabrush + ink lettering!

included in workshop:

workbook + practice pages

paper

aquabrush

india ink

blank card (make a love note!)

refreshments

There will be time to ask questions individually, get one on one instruction, practice, and increase your hand lettering skill level! That being said, class spots are limited- so we suggest you snag yours NOW!

If you guys haven’t been by to check out our new window display- it is an absolute MUST! This thing took FOR-EV-VER (obviously said in the voice of Squints from the Sandlot) and it was worth every second- since we get to enjoy it for the least amount of time, well, ever. We hope it puts you in the mood….for Christmas, obvs.

Inspired by modern and retro Christmas elements and strongly influenced by one of our favorite vendors: Meri Meri (check out the stuffed reindeer head that our paper mache bust was modeled after! available in-shop while supplies last!)

We are so excited for our first date night workshop tonight!! We will be making giant yard yahtzee sets complete with toss basket and score sheet clipboard! Can’t wait to see what all of custom sets our “students” create!

So it was finally time to take down Christmas decor in my house…I know, right!? And I had all of this cute Rifle Paper Co gift wrap from some DIY decor that pained me to throw away! Since some of it was just cute red/pink patterns, I decided I needed to find a way that I would be able to salvage it and perhaps reuse for a Valentine’s Day craft!

Here we go- origami hearts! I included a more simple version as well as this AWESOME video tutorial for two-toned Winged Hearts from the Tadashi Mori Origami YouTube channel (both tutorials only use ONE sheet of paper!)

TIP: Try to use thin paper- if you are using a thicker paper (like our gift wrap sheets) it works better to go BIGGER. If you want to fold small, opt for origami or tissue paper.

The simple version is here:

Here is the winged version (like the sample):

H A P P Y F O L D I N G !

OMG. You are hosting Christmas dinner. You have the menu all planned out, the in-laws are flying in tomorrow and you barely finished up shopping for everyone! Whew- you’ve got this, but your abode is looking less-than festive. Girl (or dude…), we got your BACK! Here are some easy ways to spruce up your home with the gift wrap you ALREADY HAVE! Genius? We think so. Most of these ideas can be achieved in minutes and will have you looking like Martha Stewart in no time.

7 ideas- here we go!

1. WRAP YOUR WALL HANGINGS LIKE PRESENTS

This is probably the quickest, easiest and most impactful. The great thing is that you are wrapping art that was already hanging on the wall, so you don’t have to create any new holes or move anything out of the way. We, of course, are OBSESSED with Rifle Paper Co. – so I had to hand select this paper in particular to go next to my sweet little felted Rudolph. Top it off with a BIG FAT BOW to make the best statement. We love The Pencil Factory Paper Ribbon, or you can cut a bow of your own out of a contrasting wrapping paper.

2. WRAP CARDBOARD RECTANGLES

Do you have any big cardboard boxes left over from purchased gifts? Cut em up and wrap em up! You can lean/tape them to the wall, or cut and adhere a triangle “kickstand” so they can stand on their own!

3. CONE CHRISTMAS TREES

These make the most adorable centerpiece or mantle decor. You can either wrap cardboard crafting cones for a sturdier option, or just twist and adhere your paper into a cone shape (as you would a cone party hat)- make sure you have an even bottom so they stand upright.

4. CHRISTMAS CARD DISPLAY

Take idea #1 or #2 and then wrap paper ribbon, string, or ribbon around the rectangle in a weave pattern to create little pockets for all those cute photo cards you collect in the mail. I found once I started getting a lot of cards on mine, it was helpful to have some washi tape or clothespins to help with arranging.

5. MAGIC MAILBOX

Although this would be something fun to have throughout the holiday season for kids to send and receive letters from Santa, it does make for a really cute decoration. If you don’t have an actual mailbox, wrapping any mail catcher in paper would make it festive and magical…or so a little elf told me…

6. FESTIVE STRIPES

Use strips of your favorite gift wrap (fold the edges under to give a clean edge) or paper ribbon to wrap around anything cylinder-shaped in your home. I used some logs I have, but you could also use planters, jars and vases. Wrap the strips of paper in a loop around the object and secure with tape in the back.

7. PAPER WREATH

If you are all caught-up on Christmas tasks and feeling ambitious, make a paper wreath! All you need is a circular and flat wreath form- this could be a plywood craft form or just a ring you cut out of cardboard, both work the same. Other than that- just paper and glue!

Red wreath example– this is the more ambitious of the two designs. To get the “fluffy” effect, cut a million 3-4″ circles out of paper, fold in half without fully creasing it and then fold into a quarter. You will then have a point on one end and then a “fluff” on the open end. Then just arrange and secure the folded circles on the wreath form until you get the look you desire. Add a bow or embellishment of your choosing to finish it off! I used Elmer’s glue, but if I was going to do it again, I would used hot glue since it dries instantly and you can ensure that the pieces won’t un-stick as you are working. Plus, you don’t have time to wait for glue to dry…it’s time to start dinner.

Blue wreath example- This “laurel” wreath design seriously took 20 minutes at most. Since it doesn’t have the “fluff” of the other one, it doesn’t take nearly as much time since you don’t need nearly as much paper to cover it. For the top, I just cut small circles out of patterned wrap and folded/creased them once in half and then covered the top of the wreath form with them. Then for the bottom, I used WHITE COPY PAPER seriously, the cheap stuff that was in the unused inkjet printer that takes up space in my home-office. I just folded the paper sheets in half and cut a half “leaf-like” shape over and over. Think of it like you are cutting Valentine hearts in grade school. I then glued down the bottom ends of each “leaf” starting at the top middle sections where I ended with the blue paper circles. Then just fan and arrange each side semi-evenly until you get to the bottom center. Voila! Simple.

We hope that we could help you out with these last minute crafts to spruce up your Holiday home decor. They work year-round no matter what the occasion! Our gift wrap sheets are the perfect size for crafts like these and we have a crazy-good selection to choose from including: Rifle Paper Co., Wink Wink by Holley Maher, Smock, Kate Spade, Julia Green Illustration, Waste Not Paper by Paper Source, Sugar Paper, Melanie Folwell and even some of our own P+P designs!

A few weeks ago we did these quick and easy, little, paper pumpkins as a free craft in our store. We got a great response, but I know that a lot of our Instagram followers wished they could have been there. I figured- why not do a little tutorial so you all can make them at home? I know, Halloween is this weekend- but this is such an awesome craft for any fall decor (would be so cute in a cluster for a Thanksgiving centerpiece!) Plus they only take a few minutes- so why not?

This is an easy craft for kids or adults! I would love to see it done with patterned paper or as a garland (WOULD BE SOOO CUTE) but whatever you do- tag us @paperieandpen #radpaperhowto so we can see!

The supplies are pretty simple and straight forward. The best paper would be a text weight (thin) paper like from an office copy machine. I think it would also work well to use wrapping paper or a non-cardstock scrapbook paper. If you would like to make a larger pumpkin, you can make the strips longer and use more of them. A normal hold punch works fine, just make sure you are punching the holes in the same place. But if you do a lot of hole-punching, a Crop-a-dile will be the best thing that has ever happened to you…since you can punch through a whole stack at once!

Punch 2 equal holes in your paper strips- one on each end, and one in the center. You will then assemble a brad in the center hole and fan out your strips into an equal circle.

Take another brad (point side up) and start gathering the ends of the strips one by one until you for a nice spherical shape. It works best if you alternate strips that are across from each other. When you have collected all of the ends, loosely open the brad to keep it all together while you cut your leaves.

Take your leaf paper and fold in half. Cut a leaf shape out of one side. If you would like to draw it first, you may- but you can just freehand with the scissors if you are daring.

Open up your leaf shape and make sure you like the size with your pumpkin, feel free to trim down if you would like. Once you are ready, punch a hole in the center of the leaves and the center of your brown rectangle. Then you can open the brad at the top of your pumpkin and add the leaves and brown, then re-open the brad and tightly fasten.

You can then start to scrunch and twist the brown paper into a stem. Be careful not to pull it off of the brad while you are doing this. But the more that you twist and manipulate the end upward- the more it looks like a stem.

You are finished! Feel free to add finishing touches to your pumpkin- we crinkled our leaves a little bit. We would love to see how yours turned out- make sure to tag us: @paperieandpen #radpaperhowto